This week’s fresh listings:
This page is to be updated every
Tuesday and will contain all the latest Coin,
Medal & Token listings for that particular week.
The more observant of you may have realised that I no
longer keep previous "Fresh Listings" coins on this page.
All for sale coins can be found via the category grid
on the front page. Most sold coins are
now accessible via a new link on that same category grid.
Additions to www.HistoryInCoins.com
for week commencing Tuesday 15th October 2024
This week's fresh listings:
WMH-8995:
Mini Purse-Loss Hoard of
King STEPHEN Norman Hammered Silver Pennies. B.M.C.i, Cross Moline or Watford type, Spink
1278. Three coins joined together through being
lost some 900 years ago, presumed as a purse-loss. Two coins are damaged: a third of a penny and
a half of a penny, that one being Exeter mint. The full coin is +GODRI[C]:ON:ST[FO]D
- Stafford mint. All coins Spink 1278. Exeter is a rare mint for Stephen - there
are actually x14 Exeter mint coins of Stephen on the EMC
database although I've only ever had one myself. Stafford has only x4 examples on the database, all the same
moneyer. I've never had one and I don't
ever recall seeing one before. This
purse-loss coin is a die duplicate of EMC/SCBI NUMBER:1300.0327, both appearing to be unusual
fine-work examples. Other
images here and here. The
Stafford Stephen penny is a very rare coin individually (even Spink rate them
at £1,250) but within the context of the purse-loss, and the fact that we can
say that one other coin is Exeter,
all the more so. A
very rare opportunity. 
£1,245
WJC-8996: 1625 Charles 1st Dated
Stuart Sixpence in Unusually Good Grade.
Initial mark Lis, Tower
mint under
the king, Gp. A, first bust, type 1: small
bust with double arched crown. Spink 2805. Issued right at the very start of the reign, so much so that the
king is literally depicted in his coronation robes on this coin. These early dated sixpences are all fairly
rare, although 1625 is not the rarest date.
What elevates this coin is the grade and provenance. Collectors will be aware that nearly all
dated Charles 1st sixpences turn up worn or damaged. This one is exceptional for issue. £525
Provenance:
Ex P.A. Raynor
collection (1984)
Ex Hulett collection,
dispersed through...
DNW (2019)
Ex Ian Davison
WSC-8997:
1721 Large Scottish
Jacobite Medal - Prince James. A medal actually issued for
distribution to the Jacobites in 1721 by Otto Hamerani. Medallic Illustrations (ii)
454/63, Eimer 493. 42.12 grams in weight and a
rather impressive 50mm diameter.
The obverse depicts Prince James III, although bizarrely, his name is
not mentioned at all. The reverse shows
the Hanovarian horse trampling upon the Lion and the
Unicorn with Britannia seated, deploring their misfortune. The backdrop is London with fugitives carrying off their
goods to that city and beyond. The
legend translates as, "What more grievous than being in
captivity." It would appear that
this particular medal was to promote exertions being made secretly to raise
troops and to supply arms to insurgents in Britain in order that yet another effort might be
made to replace the Stuarts upon the throne, not just of Scotland but Britain.
Apparently, the mysterious suppression of the Prince's name was supposed
to increase the interest in the cause.
The Hanovarians were well settled upon the
throne of the Union by this point although they were
far from popular, not least because George 1st and his court only spoke German,
primarily because they couldn't speak English!
The Jacobites were masters of propaganda and symbolism (they would
thrive and flourish on today's Social Media!) although this particular message,
subliminal or not, would appear to require a Ph.D to
work it out! A most
interesting Jacobite piece and bearing in mind what you're buying - a 303 year
old medal and the history around it - a relatively cheap thing.
£395
WMH-8998:
Harold II Godwinson Norman Hammered Silver VERY RARE MINT Penny. PAX type, crowned head left with
sceptre, B.M.C. 1, PAX type, Spink 1186.
Harold Godwinson lasted just 10 months on the
throne of England (6th January -
14th October 1066) after falling at the Battle of Hastings and effectively ending the
Saxon rule of Britain.
+SIDEMAN ON PAI - the Wareham mint. Warehan is in Dorset, lying on the bank of the River
Frome with Poole situated just over the Wareham
Channel. It was a thriving port in Saxon
times and is mentioned in the Burghal Hadage. Immediately
post Norman conquest, barely months later in 1067, the
town was literally devastated by William 1st.
It finally ceased being a mint town during the Civil War of
Stephen. With zero Harold II Wareham
mint examples on the EMC / SCBI database (and that is a vast National database
undertaking, always growing, with entries going back 100+ years, taken from
antiquarian publications such as the Catalogue of English Coins in the
British Museum [my copy is 1916] etc), zero examples in the recent
Braintree Hoard of x122 Harold pennies (and there were some similarly
excessively rare mints contained in that hoard), we begin to see just have rare
a coin this is. Going slightly further
back, the Chew Valley Hoard of 2019, which is the biggest hoard of Harold II
coins ever found by a country mile (1,236 coins of Harold II and 1,310 coins of
William I), contained only x3 Harold II Wareham examples. This tiny amount is all the more remarkable
when you consider that Wareham is really not that far south of
the Chew Valley, it being just over the border in Somerset.
If the Chew Valley hoard is declared Treasure by the coroner (and I
honestly can't imagine for one single second that it won't be), the Roman Baths
& Pump Room in Bath have expressed a strong interest in acquiring the
entire hoard for their collection - Chew Valley lying close to Bath -
presumably at some point to be put on display there. Bluntly, those x3 Wareham coins will never be in private
ownership. Back further still, we have
the 1990 publication, The Coinage of Harold II by the renowned
Harold Pagan - the seminal work on Harold Godwinson
of its time, and still referenced widely in numismatic circles today. In all his research, Harold Pagan could only
locate a single Wareham mint example. Some 35 years on from that publication, the
location of that single Wareham coin has become unknown. There are clearly no Harold II Wareham mint
coins available anywhere else on the planet but a quick browse of the internet
yields a William 1st Sword type penny, GODWINE of Wareham, at £5,000 (there are
x34 of that monarch / mint on the EMC / SCBI database), a Stephen Watford type,
ROGER of Wareham penny at £2,950 (there are x6 of that monarch / mint on the
EMC / SCBI database), another William I Penny, profile left type, AEGELRIC of
Wareham at £7,500 etc. In summary, Wareham is a very rare mint but for Harold
II, excessively so. If you need one for
your collection, you're not going to get any of the three Chew Valley examples and as we don't even know
the location of Harold Pagan's lone example, that's looking equally unlikely. £8,850
